The article seems to imply that, in an ideal world, all of these student would stay throughout the course. But I don't think it's clear that the churn is bad.
There is some lower bound to the amount of time that it takes to learn something (absent some educational revolution). Many people aren't even willing to pay that lower bound simply because they have other priorities in life. But they do like to sample (which is good), and potentially finish out a course if nothing else gets in the way.
Online courses are great because they lower the cost of sampling, so we shouldn't be surprised that there are more samplers, and fewer people finishing out the courses. If 1000 people complete an online course, then that's great, even if 99000 people signed up and disappeared a week later.
That being said, I'm pleased to see the specific criticisms offered in the article, and I hope they lead to a better balance for more people.
There is some lower bound to the amount of time that it takes to learn something (absent some educational revolution). Many people aren't even willing to pay that lower bound simply because they have other priorities in life. But they do like to sample (which is good), and potentially finish out a course if nothing else gets in the way.
Online courses are great because they lower the cost of sampling, so we shouldn't be surprised that there are more samplers, and fewer people finishing out the courses. If 1000 people complete an online course, then that's great, even if 99000 people signed up and disappeared a week later.
That being said, I'm pleased to see the specific criticisms offered in the article, and I hope they lead to a better balance for more people.